Spas or hot tubs are well known in the art and in wide use for therapeutic purposes as well as simple physical relaxation. Basically, these spas include a water recirculating pump, a water jet generating blower and a light. The recirculating pump is usually located close to the spa in a sunken well or in an auxiliary housing. The water jet generating blower may be also disposed close to the spa while the light is normally physically in the bottom central portion of the spa. On/off control switches for these components are normally mounted on a wall of the adjacent dwelling or on a post near the spa.
With either of the foregoing arrangements, if a person sitting in the spa wishes to turn the recirculating pump, water jet generating blower or light on and off, he must get out of the spa and walk over to the appropriate switches.
If a person is in his home and wishes to use the spa, he must start the recirculating pump which normally includes in circuit a thermostat control so that the water of the spa can be brought up to a desired temperature. Again this necessitates a person walking out to the spa or to the corner of the house wall on which the switches are mounted to start these operations. It would clearly be desirable if a person could initiate the recirculating operation as well as turn on the spa light from a remote location such as inside his dwelling so that initial preparations of the spa preparatory to its use can be started without having to leave the house. Such a remote control would be particularly useful at nighttime as the light in the spa could be turned on before leaving the house.
Moreover, it would be desirable if the user of a spa could control the recirculation, jet action and light while actually sitting in the spa so that it is not necessary to climb out of the spa each time some change in operation is desired.
Other problems associated with presently available spa systems is the relative high cost of installation. This high cost results primarily from having to provide various electrical lines between the operating switches and the spa operating components.
Finally, many spa owners also have a swimming pool and it would be a great convenience if recirculating water in the swimming pool and the temperature control thereof could be remotely controlled by the same system employed for controlling the spa.